WIAA approves football-only conference changes for 2020 season

By NBC15 Staff&nbsp|&nbsp

Posted: Tue 8:40 PM, Apr 16, 2019

STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WMTV) The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) passed a statewide football-only conference realignment to be implemented in 2020 and also passed a proposal to raise in ticket prices for Sectional and State Tournaments.

It was a unanimous vote to realign the football conferences by the WIAA board. It was a proposal brought forth by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association.

"You had conferences of eleven teams, ten teams, nine teams, eight all the way down to five teams. It was all over the place," said Doug Sarver, President of Wisconsin Football Coaches Association. "So then your conference games were all over the place."

Sarver said the goal of this is to bring uniformity to the number of teams in a conference and the number of conference games teams play.

While most of the schools supported the move. Sarver said there was a small percent that had some concerns.

"We tried to help as many as we could," said Sarver.

The change will be implemented in the 2020 season.

“As I indicated when the Board gave it’s initial support of the plan, this was an enormous undertaking and a groundbreaking venture for the WIAA,” Executive Director Dave Anderson said.

Also during the April 16 meeting, the board approved to increase sectional tournament tickets by a dollar, so instead of $5 it will now be $6. State tournament tickets will also be increased from $6 to $8.

This is the first increase at the sectional level since 2014 and at the state level for a majority of sports since 2004, according to a statement posted on the WIAA website. It reads on to explain that the increase in revenue "will allow for an increase in game fees paid to regional and sectional contest officials and tournament game managers, as well as an increase in school State Tournament travel reimbursement, tournament game officials travel reimbursement and WIAA Board and committee travel expenses."

To see the complete list of change in football-only conference play, click here.

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